Ch10: The Reformation

• Causes of the Reformation

  • Renaissance influence - as the literacy rate increased, people read the Bible for themselves
  • Wealth of the Church - people resented paying the tithes to them when they saw the extravagant lives of the priests and bishop
  • Sale of indulgences - made up 'guaranteed tickets to heaven' by the Catholic Church angered Martin Luther
• Methods of the Catholic Church to counter the Reformation

  • Courts of Inquisition - punished those who posed as a threat to the Church by arresting, imprisoning, torturing or burning the offender at stake (auto-da-fe)
  • Council of Trent - committee dealt with Catholic Church problems by banning indulgences, training priests, published a list of forbidden books, wrote up the Catechism,
• Martin Luther


  • The man who caused the Reformation, born in Saxony, studied theology and became a professor at the University of Wittenberg
• Justification by faith alone


  Only God's grace & forgiveness can help a person
• Martin Luther's actions

  1. Spent most of his time studying the Bible so he could get to heaven

  2. Saw people selling indulgences, was furious and wrote 95 arguments (95 Theses) against the Church and mailed it to the Wittenberg Church door

  3. Was excommunicated from the Church by Pope Leo X in 1521, burned the papal bull with the Pope's threat publicly

  4. At the Diet of Worms (conference about Luther's actions), stated he will not change his mind, was later made an outlaw by Charles V and punished for heresy

  5. A fake kidnapping was arranged by Prince Frederick of Saxony, stayed with him for a year and translated the Bible to German

  6. Married an ex-nun Catherine von Bora and had 6 children

  7. Preached about his beliefs until death in 1546